Harry Birtwistle

Ryan James Harry Birtwistle (born 1 December 2003) is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays as a right wing-back for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.[1]

Harry Birtwistle
Personal information
Full name Ryan James Harry Birtwistle
Date of birth (2003-12-01) 1 December 2003
Place of birth Singapore
Position(s) Right wing-back
Team information
Current team
 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number 85
Youth career
2017– Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2021– Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Harry Birtwistle was born in Singapore on 1 December 2003 to an English father, John Birtwistle and a Singaporean mother. He holds a Singapore passport.[2][3]

Club career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Harry Birtwistle was first spotted and scouted by the Wolves academy staff when he was eight years old, as part of a Wolves international training camp in Singapore. Birtwistle then moved from Singapore to England in 2017 and he signed a scholarship with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Four years on, still just 17, he has broken into the under-23 side and made an impressive start to the season, scoring a couple of goals and catching the eye of Wolves' coaching staff in his favoured right wing-back position. He has also started training with the first team.[4]

On 28 October 2021, it was announced that Birtwistle signed his first professional contract with the club which will run until the summer of 2024, making him the first Singapore-born player to sign for a Premier League club.[5][6]

Personal life

Harry Birtwistle had applied to renounce his Singapore citizenship, but it was denied as Singapore's Ministry of Defence indicated he had yet to fulfil his National Service (NS) obligations. His family "stated that [he] would not be registering for NS".[7] His father, John, would later release a statement that the changes on work permit requirements for non-British citizens following the Brexit had made it essential for Harry to keep his British citizenship to pursue a football career in the Premier League, and Harry had not wanted to intentionally skip NS.[8]

Career statistics
As of matches played 7 March 2022[9][10]
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Wolverhampton Wanderers U21 2021–22 ————3[lower-alpha 1]030
Career total 000000003030
  1. Appearance(s) in the EFL Trophy

References
  1. "Football: Wolves defender Birtwistle, 17, 'so honoured' to be first S'pore-born player in EPL". The Straits Times. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  2. "Wolves' Harry Birtwistle is first Singapore-born player to sign for EPL club". Yahoo. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  3. "Unleash the Roar project: Local core, but foreigners to add more". tnp.straitstimes.com.
  4. "Harry Birtwistle: 'I've not seen my mum in almost two years. It's tough. But being a footballer is what I want to do'". The Athletic. 14 October 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  5. "Football: Wolves defender Birtwistle, 17, 'so honoured' to be first S'pore-born player in EPL". The New Paper. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  6. "Young wing-back Harry Birtwistle has signed his first professional contract with Wolves following a successful start to his first season at under-23 level". www.wolves.co.uk. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  7. Sazali Abdul Aziz (29 October 2021). "Wolves defender Harry Birtwistle's application to renounce his S'pore citizenship rejected | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  8. "Harry Birtwistle's father: My son never wanted to renounce Singapore citizenship, skip NS". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  9. Harry Birtwistle at Soccerway. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  10. "Harry Birtwistle". www.wolves.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2022.


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